Law Schools

News about Law Schools, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 13, 2015

Brooklyn Law School will begin offering 15 percent tuition repayments to graduates who fail to find full-time jobs within nine months of graduation; program is meant to address daunting competition and depressed job market that have coincided with steep drop off in enrollment. MORE

Apr. 27, 2015

Study by Deborah J Merritt, Ohio State University law professor, finds that law school class of 2010, which was dealt hardship by 2008 economic collapse, has not recovered from sour job market; finds 20 percent of graduates have jobs that do not require law license and only 40 percent are working in firms; notes their student debt averages from $77,364 from public institutions to $112,007 from private schools. MORE

Apr. 1, 2015

Steven Davidoff Solomon Deal Professor investigates whether it is a good time to apply to law school, given prospect of rebound following lowest level of enrollment in decades; observes that some say downturn is permanent correction, while new studies suggest chance of vigorous future, especially at higher end of the market. MORE

Mar. 20, 2015

Law school deans and some state legal establishments are among those scrutinizing traditional bar exam, exploring other options for law school graduates than a single written test as only portal to legal profession. MORE

Feb. 12, 2015

Law schools are adding business-oriented offerings to better equip students to compete in a redefined job market. MORE

Dec. 17, 2014

The 37,924 full- and part-time students who started classes this fall represent a 30 percent decline from just four years ago, when enrollment peaked at 52,488. MORE

Nov. 4, 2014

Creditors do not move to shut down a law school because keeping a struggling school alive means there is some possibility of repayment. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor and Samuel Alito attend reunion weekend at Yale Law School and take part in three-way public conversation about lessons learned in their roles on America's high court. MORE

Aug. 3, 2014

Notion of two-year law schools is gaining growing number of supporters, even at the American Bar Association; proponents recommend that instead of having a third year of school, students take a year of accumulating skill-based experience at a law school or elsewhere. MORE

Aug. 3, 2014

Some law schools are broadening their curriculum and pushing their students to better understand business and technology so that they can advise entrepreneurs in start-ups and new business fields. MORE

Aug. 3, 2014

Handful of states, including California, Virginia, Vermont and Washington, allow apprenticeships under a lawyer in lieu of pursuing traditional law school degree as prerequisite to taking bar and practicing as licensed lawyer; supporters say without crippling debt from law school, such lawyers are free from chasing big paychecks with corporations and can work in non-profit and community law. MORE

Apr. 14, 2014

Litigation arising from brain injuries in the NFL has prompted George Washington University’s law school to devote a course to the legal implications of traumatic brain injuries. MORE

Apr. 5, 2014

James B Stewart Common Sense column; Brooklyn Law School says it plans to cut tuition and abandon what has become widespread obsession with climbing ladder of national law school rankings; unusually bold steps are part of effort to confront crisis many institutions are facing in legal education. MORE

Feb. 27, 2014

Pace University selects David S Yassky, who served as taxi commissioner under New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg, to be dean of its law school; Yassky had previously taught at Brooklyn Law School and New York University Law School. MORE

Feb. 12, 2014

New York State's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman clears the way for law students to take the bar exam early in return for devoting their last semester to pro bono works; legal experts say decision would create new pool of lawyers for the indigent, and has potential to change law education nationwide. MORE

Nov. 1, 2013

Law School Admissions Council releases figures showing that nearly 11 percent fewer people took the Law School Admission Test in October 2013 than year before, sign that students recognize continuing slump in legal field. MORE

Oct. 22, 2013

Adam Liptak Sidebar column questions why law reviews, which are primary repositories of legal scholarship, are edited by law students; asserts that with students who know little of law or editing, these publications have become easy targets for ridicule. MORE

Sep. 20, 2013

Task force of the American Bar Assn, faced with rising student debt and declining applications to law schools, is calling for sweeping changes in legal education, including training people without law degrees to provide limited legal services and opening bar to those who have not completed four years of college and three years of law school. MORE

Aug. 23, 2013

President Obama urged law schools to consider cutting a year of classroom instruction, wading into a hotly debated issue inside the beleaguered legal academy. MORE

Apr. 10, 2013

Editors of The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, publication at Yeshiva University’s law school, set off major conflict by bestowing a peace award on former Pres Jimmy Carter, who has harshly criticized Israel. MORE

Apr. 4, 2013

Trevor W. Morrison will succeed Richard L. Revesz, who is stepping down on May 31 after 11 years. MORE

Mar. 8, 2013

Efforts like creating school-run law firms are trying to address glut of heavily indebted law school graduates with no clients and vast majority of Americans unable to afford lawyer; paradox, fed by growth of Internet-based legal research and services, is at heart of crisis looming over legal profession after decades of relentless growth and accumulated wealth. MORE

Feb. 18, 2013

Op-Ed article by Rutgers School of Law dean John J Farmer Jr argues that legal profession can restore its vibrant job market by establishing equivalent of medical residency, where law school graduates can practice for two years or so in order to repay their debts; asserts this will allow law firms to hire more lawyers at lower rates. MORE

Feb. 11, 2013

Legal profession is contemplating radical changes to its educational system, including cutting the curriculum, requiring far more on-the-ground training and licensing technicians who are not full lawyers; proposals are a result of a sharp drop in law school applications, the outsourcing of research over the Internet, a glut of underemployed and indebted law school graduates and a high percentage of the legal needs of Americans going unmet. MORE

Jan. 31, 2013

Law School Admission Council reports that law school applications are headed for 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing employment prospects after graduation; startling numbers in report have plunged law school administrators into soul-searching debate about the future of legal education and the profession overall. MORE

Jan. 22, 2013

Stanford Law School opens the nation's only clinic devoted to religious liberty, with financial backing from conservative groups the John Templeton Foundation and the Becket fund for Religious Liberty; move is indication of where the church-state debate has moved and the growth of hands-on legal education. MORE

Jan. 18, 2013

Op-Ed article by legal scholars Daniel B Rodriguez and Samuel Estreicher expresses support for proposal being considered in New York that would allow law students to take state bar exam after two years of school instead of three now required; asserts that move would keep many students from drowning in debt, and force law schools to make their third-year curriculums worthwhile. MORE

Dec. 2, 2012

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about applying to law school and learning Dutch after moving to the Netherlands. MORE

Nov. 29, 2012

Op-Ed article by law dean Lawrence E Mitchell calls for end to attacks on law schools; contends relentless criticism of law schools is driving talented people away from profession, and is largely based on irrationalities. MORE

Jul. 15, 2012

Editorial calls attention to the crisis in legal education, and the fact that law school graduates face a shortage of jobs in the legal profession along with mountains of student loan debt; urges law schools to rethink both their economics and the way they teach. MORE

Jun. 1, 2012

Op-Ed article by law Prof Brian Z Tamanaha contends the economics of legal education are broken, and that the federal loan system and the accreditation standards for law schools imposed by the American Bar Assn are largely to blame; offers suggestions for how to fix the system. MORE

May. 9, 2012

Washington University School of Law will offer, entirely online, a master's degree in United States law intended for lawyers practicing overseas, in partnership with education technology firm 2tor. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Law School Admission Test was administered 129,925 times in the 2011-12 academic year, or 16 percent fewer times than a year ago, which is the largest decline in more than a decade; decline reflects spreading view that the United States legal market is in terrible shape and will have a hard time absorbing the 45,000 students who are expected to graduate from law school in each of the next three years. MORE

Dec. 23, 2011

Duncan School of Law in Tennessee sues American Bar Association after being denied accreditation, accusing group of antitrust violations and of depriving the school of due process; ABA representatives say Duncan had admitted students that were unlikely to graduate; without accreditation, Duncan graduates will be prevented from practicing law in most areas of the country. MORE

Dec. 18, 2011

Many American law schools face problems in meeting stringent, and costly, American Bar Association rules, while also trying to be affordable to students; scholars say without standards, schools could cut their tuition significantly, and that the lack of affordable options helps explain why so many Americans do not hire lawyers. MORE

Nov. 26, 2011

Editorial asserts that American legal education is in crisis because the majority of the nation's law schools are stuck in an outdated instructional and business model; urges them to move toward more apprentice-style learning, with more courses that offer practical training; holds that in reforming themselves, law schools have a chance to rebuild public confidence in what the profession can provide. MORE

Nov. 20, 2011

Law schools are encountering growing criticism for their long-standing emphasis on theoretical rather than practical knowledge, which causes them to rely on firms to provide crash courses in day-to-day lawyering; clients have begun to refuse billing for first- and second-year associates, who in effect are being paid to learn on the job, which in turn has contributed to historic decline in hiring. MORE

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